Brad Gillis
I first met Brad Gillis back in 1982 right after he joined up with Ozzy replacing Randy Rhoads. I was involved with the sound company and I got to go backstage and meet Ozzy and the rest of the band. I had been a Randy Rhoads fan and at the time I hadn't heard of Brad but I did recognize his amazing talent. Several months later when MTV was in it's infancy I saw Brad playing in "Night Ranger" and a lifetime fan was born. In fact "Don't tell me you love me" is one of my top 10 all time favorite songs.
Several years later I again ran into Brad Backstage at a Van Halen/Sam Kinnison/Billy Idol/Bon Jovi Jam. I was doing security for the promoter and it was my job to decide who got in and who didn't. Naturally Brad got in.
I can still remember where I was when I first heard "You can still rock in America" I was riding down the highway at about 70 MPH on Interstate 95 in Las Vegas with several other Harleys sometime in the mid 80's and this song comes on the radio. All of us had radios on the bikes and all of us were on the same station blasting the tunes. Try to imagine that song blasting at ear piercing levels together with the sound of 3 other Harleys. It had a life altering effect on me.
Now that I am building a custom Pearlcaster for Brad to his exact specs is a magical experience for me.
Ed Roman
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Brad Gillis Playing his Pearlcaster 02/11/2005
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Wireless Pearlcaster
Finished Pearlcaster Guitar With Original Floyd #6
Actually Brad had us change the neck to an all graphite Stealth model
Brad is extremely picky and he spent countless hours in our shop while Rod worked on his guitar.
Brad intends to use this guitar as his main guitar so of course we allowed Brad the full run of our shop.
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Brads custom Fender style guitar has a very rare original Floyd with no fine tuners. It has a special wireless unit routed under the pick guard with the antenna wire routed in the back of the body. The on/off switch is a real air craft switch located on a flat plate with an led light were the out put jack normally is. the output jack has been relocated on the side of the body. The neck is a specially made slightly fat on the back side per Brad's instructions. The Frets are worn almost paper thin. Brad has 3 custom wound Seymour Duncan pickups, He has a mini switch between the volume and 5 way switch actually splits the bridge pick up. He has played this guitar since the original Nightranger train ride and it appears that this guitar is ready for that grave yard in the sky. Ed Roman is currently building him a one of a kind Pearlcaster with a beautiful Hawaiian ice blue quilt top Brad has chosen our standard system of 3 lil Seymour Humbuckers which will be coil tapped. | |
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Brad has specified another original Floyd Rose tremolo with no fine tuners. As usual he requires a built in camouflaged wireless unit installed better than the last one, same air craft switch w/led. out put jack moved to the side and a birds eye maple neck with an ebony fret board Ed Roman is proud to welcome Brad Gillis to the growing number of professionals who are currently playing Ed Roman Pearlcaster Guitars. |
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Gillis' guitar history began long before the break-through of Night Ranger. At the age of nineteen, Brad joined the San Francisco based funk-rock band Rubicon after auditioning over numerous Bay area guitar veterans. Together they recorded two albums, Rubicon and American Dreams, with 20th Century Fox Records. When Rubicon disbanded, Brad and two other band members, Jack Blades and Kelly Keagy, went on to form a hard rock band with the short-lived name Stereo. When the other half of the guitar duo, Jeff Watson, and keyboardist Alan "Fitz" Fitzgerald joined the ranks, Night Ranger was born. At the same time Night Ranger was gaining public interest,
heavy metal god Ozzy Osbourne recognized the talent in Brad and asked him
to supplant Randy Rhoads in his ongoing tour. For the next year, Brad
spread himself between the Osbourne sensation and the Night Ranger effort,
and can be heard on lead guitar on Osbourne's Speak of the Devil live
album. When Night Ranger began to take off, Gillis had the difficult task
of choosing one path over the other. Luckily, for music fans everywhere,
Night Ranger was blessed with the Gillis technique.For over a decade Gillis wrote, recorded and toured with Night Ranger, contributing to such hits as "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," "Sister Christian," "When You Close Your Eyes," and "(You Can Still) Rock in America," just to name a few. After years of being one of the top grossing touring bands of the '80s, the members of Night Ranger decided to go their separate ways. His hiatus did not last long. Shortly after the break-up of Night Ranger, Gillis went on to form the band Mega-Mega. This hard edge band was spotlighted on the motion picture soundtrack to "Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead." It didn't take Gillis long, though, to get the itch for the road again and quickly discovered that fellow Night Ranger member and drummer, Kelly Keagy, felt the same. Gillis' and Keagy's desire to regain the hard drive and soul back into their music lead them to songwriter, vocalist and bassist Gary Moon. The reborn
Night Ranger trio tantalized the world with their larger than life sound
and stage presence, touring for three years solid. Feeding Off the Mojo,
released in 1995, breathed new life into what had been labeled a '80s
band. Riding the wave of energy created from this release the original
five member line-up reformed and Brad released two more albums with them,
Neverland (1997) and Seven (1998). Brad toured with the band in support of
each album, and spent the summer of 1999 headlining the Rock Never Stops
Tour with Ted Nugent and supporting bands Quiet Riot and Slaughter.Brad's newly released CD, Alligator, is currently available from Pony Canyon Records and carries with it the energy and stamina from years of guitar experience. Alligator once again reunites the axe slinging mastery of Brad Gillis with the emotionally packed voice and lyrics of Gary Moon. Heard on seven of the ten tracks, the combination of Gillis and Moon makes you want to get out of your chair and hump something (just seeing if you're still paying attention). Alligator is the first album that Gillis has also ventured into the role of lead vocalist, with exhilarating results. The melancholy sound of "Survive," when compared to the industrial raunch of "Chain Gang" shows the potential of this extraordinary guitarist. And for those guitar enthusiasts, don't fret, "(Your Eyes are the Window) Eyes" packs the flamboyant waang-bar techniques one has learned to expect from Brad Gillis. |